Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion (Middle) Nicole Erb chats with a friend while event organizer Kamrei Riley, and individual fashion consultant for California-based clothing company LulaRoe, rings up their purchases at the fundraiser for Kathleen Harrison on Monday, Sept. 5, 2016 at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska.

Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion (Middle) Nicole Erb chats with a friend while event organizer Kamrei Riley, and individual fashion consultant for California-based clothing company LulaRoe, rings up their purchases at the fundraiser for Kathleen Harrison on Monday, Sept. 5, 2016 at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska.

Friends fundraise for medical bills

  • By Kelly Sullivan
  • Monday, September 5, 2016 9:44pm
  • News

In July, Kathleen Harrison’s doctors discovered her breast cancer — thought to have been wiped out by a previous round of chemotherapy — had spread to her lungs, brain, kidney, lymph nodes and spleen.

Last month she started her second round of therapy and again faces the piles of medical bills that rack up as tests are run, treatments completed and consultations take place. This time, her friends are stepping in.

Kamrie Riley, along with nearly a dozen other local individual fashion consultants for California-based clothing company LulaRoe, set up their pop-up boutiques from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Labor Day to raise funds for Harrison’s health care bills at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex. Many pointed to Harrison’s strong emotional constitution as one obvious reason they are lending a hand.

“She is a blessing,” Kamrie Riley said simply of her friend.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

The business owners will donate 10 percent of their profits to Harrison, and LulaRoe will match a portion of the price of each clothing item sold.

“I must confess, it is very humbling,” Harrison said. “It just makes me cry, you don’t expect people to be that good to you.”

Her first diagnosis of triple negative breast cancer — a very aggressive disease that often fails to respond to even the most intensive treatments — came in October 2014. Her first round of chemotherapy was finished by May 2015, and her mother was subsequently also diagnosed with cancer. Harrison attributed her constant fatigue to acting as her mother’s primary caregiver during that time.

“I knew I was tired but because caring for my mom, I just thought was really exhausted,” Harrison said. “It didn’t matter even if someone was here and could help take care of her — I couldn’t recover. It seemed so crazy to me seemingly healthy person should be so tired.”

It wasn’t until this July, the same month her mother passed away, that Harrison found out her own cancer was back. At first, the doctors believed the new growths might be a second primary cancer, but after numerous tests determined it was the metastasized breast cancer.

Through it all, her friends and coworkers at the Central Peninsula Hospital watched their friend stay unrelentingly sturdy.

“She has been an incredible trooper,” said longtime friend and former coworker Michele Petterson. “She is not letting things get her down.”

At the same time, she said, Harrison has continued to be a nurturer an emotional support for her friends and family.

Ruthi Riley, Kamrie’s mother, has known Harrison for the last five years.

“She is literally the kindest, most heartfelt person I have ever met,” Ruthi Riley said. “…When she first was diagnosed she was positive and she knew she could beat it. She was going to make it through have living life full of joy. She believes there is a plan, she is just a fighting spirit.”

Harrison, Ruthi Riley said, has also been incredibly grateful for all of the support she has received, including the many meals brought to her home, the GoFundMe page her friend started and the other fundraising efforts put on by family.

Right now her income is Paid Time Off hours donated by her former coworkers, but Harrison said, she hopes to return to work as soon as possible. She has been trying to rehabilitate her left arm, which has gone limp from the spreading cancer, and after her last dose of chemotherapy was very hard on her body.

“(I) feel so blessed,” Harrison said. “While this is no one’s choice for a diagnosis, I don’t know how it could have been better.”

 

Reach Kelly Sullivan at kelly.sullivan@peninsulaclarion.com.

 

 

Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion Nearly one dozen local independent fashion consultants for California-based clothing company LulaRoe set up their pop-up boutiques to raise money for Kathleen Harrison and help pay medical bills from her cancer treatments Monday, Sept. 5, 2016 at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska.

Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion Nearly one dozen local independent fashion consultants for California-based clothing company LulaRoe set up their pop-up boutiques to raise money for Kathleen Harrison and help pay medical bills from her cancer treatments Monday, Sept. 5, 2016 at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska.

Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion Summer Anderson shops at a LulaRoe pop-up boutiques set up for community member Kathleen Harrison's fundraiser put on by friends to help afford the cost of her cancer treatments Monday, Sept. 5, 2016 at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska.

Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion Summer Anderson shops at a LulaRoe pop-up boutiques set up for community member Kathleen Harrison’s fundraiser put on by friends to help afford the cost of her cancer treatments Monday, Sept. 5, 2016 at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska.

More in News

An aerial photo over Grewingk Glacier and Glacier Spit from May 2021 shows a mesodinium rubrum bloom to the left as contrasted with the normal ocean water of Kachemak Bay near Homer. (Photo courtesy of Stephanie Greer/Beryl Air)
KBNERR warns of potential harmful algal bloom in Kachemak Bay

Pseudo-nitzchia has been detected at bloom levels in Kachemak Bay since July 4.

Fresh-picked lettuces are for sale at the final Homer Farmers Market of the year on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Homer, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)
USDA ends regional food program, pulls $6M from Alaska businesses

On July 15, the Alaska Food Policy Council was notified that the USDA had terminated the Regional Food Business Center Program “effective immediately.”

Exit Glacier is photographed on June 22, 2018. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
2 rescued by park service near Exit Glacier

The hikers were stranded in the “Exit Creek Prohibited Visitor Use Zone.”

Two new cars purchased by the Soldotna Senior Center to support its Meals on Wheels program are parked outside of the center in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)
State restores grant funding to Soldotna Senior Center

In recent years, the center has been drawing down its organizational reserves to provide some essential services.

A table used by parties to a case sits empty in Courtroom 4 of the Kenai Courthouse in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Former school district custodian pleads guilty to sexual abuse of a minor

Alexander Coxwell was arrested in September on allegations that he had engaged in an illegal sexual relationship with a then-14-year-old student.

Dick Hawkins speaks during a community meeting about the proposed Ninilchik Recreation Service Area at the Ninilchik Community Center in Ninilchik, Alaska, on Thursday, July 17, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Ninilchik residents consider creation of service area to fund pool

The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on Aug. 5 will consider an ordinance that would create the service area if it is approved by voters.

The KBBI AM 890 station is located on Kachemak Way in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Chloe Pleznac/Homer News)
Peninsula radio reacts to loss of federal funding

Congress last week approved President Trump’s rescission request, zeroing out all federal funding for public broadcasting, effective Oct. 1.

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, speaks at a town hall meeting in the Moose Pass Sportsman’s Club in Moose Pass, Alaska, on Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Insurance authorization bill sponsored by Bjorkman, Ruffidge becomes law

The bill requires insurance companies and health care providers to meet new deadlines for authorizing requests for care.

A map of the Johnson Tract Mine exploration project. Photo courtesy of the Center for Biological Diversity
Inletkeeper, partners file lawsuit against Cook Inlet gold mine

The Johnson Tract Mine is located on CIRI-owned lands inside Lake Clark National Park.

Most Read

You're browsing in private mode.
Please sign in or subscribe to continue reading articles in this mode.

Peninsula Clarion relies on subscription revenue to provide local content for our readers.

Subscribe

Already a subscriber? Please sign in